Balearics and Madrid have dearest petrol in Spain

THE Balearic Islands and Madrid have the dearest petrol in Spain, and last year also saw the highest increases in 95 octane and super lead free petrol. Diesel prices went down in all the regions, except Cantabria and the Balearics, where the price remained stable. In general terms, the dearest diesel in Spain last year was in the Balearics, where it cost 70 cents a litre, followed by Madrid at 69.9 cents. he biggest increase in lead-free 95 octane petrol was in Madrid (1.2 cents to an average of 81.7) and the Balearics, where it went up by 0.8 cents to 81.6 cents. The average increase throughout Spain was 0.5 cents. The picture was repeated in super petrol, where once again, the biggest increases were in Madrid (1.4 cents) and the Balearics (1.1 cents), which also had the highest prices (87.6 and 87.5 cents respectively. But by the end of last year, the price of petrol had stablised and according to the director general of the economy, this was thanks to the euro, which is a strong currency and so the energy bill is not as influenced by the dollar. The Balearics have the highest number of cars per capita in Europe and the demand for petrol is high. There has been a call to increase storage capacity to guarantee supplies in case of an accident or unforseen events which should leave the islands isolated. The ministry of innovation and energy reckons that storage capacity for all fuels, including petrol, kerosene, gas and diesel should be increased by 77'000 cubic metres, nearly 28 per cent more than existing capacity. The current storage capacity is 279'000 cubic metres to supply the electric and gas power stations, vehicles, port traffic and other activities (agricultural and industrial machinery, etc). The extra capacity would be distributed between Majorca (40'000 cubic metres, 17.6 per cent more), Minorca (30'000 cubic metres, 187 per cent more) and Ibiza (36'000 cubic metres, 19 per cent more). The biggest storage facility in Majorca is at Son Banya.